Meet You in the Stars

Tuesday evening I was in the middle of getting ready for work when my landline phone rang. I’d just gotten and only given the number to the bar so I had no idea who could possibly be calling. The caller id said unknown.

“Hello?” I asked, sinking down on the edge of my bed. There was no response. After a few seconds, I could finally make out the faint sound of someone breathing. I hung the phone up quickly, that was weird.

I chose a shirt and pulled it over my head and the phone rang again. Hesitantly, I answered again. It was the same weirdo as before.

“Stop calling here!” I hung up again, thinking it was probably some stupid kids prank calling. I barely had time to put the phone on the table before it was ringing again. No way I was answering that again. It rang through then the caller immediately redialed.

I had a bad feeling, but tried my best to shake it off. I wasn’t going to let somebody’s dumb joke make me all paranoid. I was done with being scared all the time.

-x-

I finished up my last song of the night, smiling at the applause and the overflowing tip jar. The crowds here were amazing and always took care of me.

“Your voice is fucking incredible,” a voice said from right behind me. I spun around quickly and realized it was Brian.

“Thanks,” I said, blushing slightly. Coming from him, anyone in the band really, that was a huge compliment.

“Let me buy you a drink and we can get to know each other better.”

“Sure, order me a beer and I’ll join you at the bar after I put my stuff in the back.” He nodded and I hurried to the back to stash my things. I freshened up my makeup that I had started to sweat off and headed back to the bar.

I hopped up on the stool beside the one Brian was occupying and took a big swig of the beer he’d ordered me.

“So what brought you to California?” he asked, waving the bartender over to order two more beers.

“I just needed a new start,” I said, not wanting to go into too much detail.

“Are you trying to steal my girlfriend?” Jimmy asked when he suddenly appeared behind Brian. Wait, did he call me his girlfriend?

Brian seemed to be thinking the same thing. “I thought she wasn’t your girlfriend.” With a smirk on his face he vacated the bar stool and Jimmy took his place.

“That just kinda slipped out and now he’s gonna go tell everybody I said that. Shit!” Jimmy picked up Brian’s untouched beer. He seemed to freaking out a bit more than necessary.

“Hey it’s fine.”

He groaned and ran his fingers through his hair. “Sorry. I know I’m overreacting. I need something stronger than this.” He ordered several different shots of hard liquor and downed them one after another when they were put in front of him.

“Jimmy slow down. It’s not that big of a deal,” I said. I put my hand on his arm and he stared at it for a few moments.

“I think I need to get out of here, get some air,” he said and got up without another word. I quickly followed him and found him leaning against the wall outside.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Nothing.” I sighed and turned to go back inside but his hand on my arm stopped me. He pulled me back to him and into a hug. “I’m sorry I’m acting so weird. It’s just...I like you and I don’t want anything to go wrong. I already find myself not wanting to be away from you.”

His admission surprised me, it was really too soon to have those thoughts, but I got the feeling that Jimmy felt things differently that other people.

“I was thinking of doing some shopping tomorrow. Want to come with me?” I asked, wanting him to know I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.

“You don’t have to invite me just to make me feel better.”

“That’s not why I invited you. I really do want to spend more time with you, get to know you better.”

He gave me a small smile and gently kissed my lips. "Well then, it's a date."
My stomach erupted into butterflies. I hadn’t felt this way, this happy in a very long time.

Notes

Thanks to everyone who was been reading and commenting! This chapter and the last have been a little rough, writer's block is hitting pretty hard with this story. Excited about the next chapter, it's the first one I wrote for this story. I just have a few things to tweak so it should be up either tomorrow or Wednesday.